Secret Guardian
by hjuliad
Summary: Instead of letting the guardians find her, Rose ran to get away from Mason's ghost and Lissa. For two years, all of her friends and family believe she is dead, until an attack at Court. Then they find out where the Shadow-Kissed guardian really has been.
1. Prologue

**This story leaves off right after Rose kills those Strigoi (Isaiah and Elena) in Frostbite. **

Prologue:

Rose had no idea how long she waited with Mason, stroking his pale face. Eventually, she realized she had to go. Muscles weak, Rose glanced out the window. It was still daylight. She couldn't have been there for that long. If she stared at Mason for long enough, she could imagine he was breathing, very softly and evenly.

She dropped the duller-than-hell sword, the blood caked on it dry. Rose swallowed and wouldn't look at the dead Strigoi.

"Good-bye, Mase," then she shut his eyes, kissed his forehead and left the house.

The sun was blinding. It was so bright that Rose had to shut her eyes and stand there for a long time. No matter the light, Rose was still cold and shivering. Sometime later, she realized she was in shock. Her mind was having trouble working right, she just knew she had to walk.

Rose walked and walked and walked until the ache in her feet finally registered to her slow head.

_Lissa. _

She checked in on her bond-mate, felt her terror as the ones Rose had saved finally reached her. Christian's embrace, her relief on seeing him alright. They ended up in a small room, all bunched together around a small table, looking worn and tired. Somehow, Rose knew that Eddie was in the infirmary after being Strigoi snack. Mia was sitting next to Adrian, who looked less than enthralled in their story-telling.

Dimitri, Rose's mother, and a couple other guardians were listening, standing protectively around the scared and hurt Moroi.

Mia stated, "They killed Mason."

Even though she was technically in Lissa's mind, Rose could still feel the harsh sting of those words.

"Where is Rose?" Lissa was having trouble trying to find out who was worried more, Rose's mother or Dimitri. After all, it was Dimitri who asked first. She didn't even wonder why Dimitri was so worried; she passed it off as the fact that he was Rose's mentor.

Mia sobbed, "She made me leave." Her blue eyes were red and her crème skin was blotchy. She seemed genuinely upset about Rose. "She wouldn't come… she wouldn't come… I tried… but she…"

"Sh," Adrian comforted the young girl. "It's okay. Rose is okay."

Lissa glared. "You don't even know her."

Maybe it's for the best…

Rose stopped walking and finally let out her first cry. She bent over at the waist, hands on her eyes like she could pretend it didn't happen. That Mason was still alive and that she would wake up back at the ski resort.

Her cry turned into a strangled scream.

"I'm so sorry, Lissa. I'm so sorry."

Rose didn't really know why she did it, but she knew she couldn't go back. She didn't want to. She didn't want to go back to that place. She didn't want to face her best friend, her mentor and lover, her mother.

So she did what she did best.

She ran.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

Rose stared out the window of her apartment and fingered the tattoos on the back of her neck. Her promise mark, seven marks that meant she had killed Strigoi, and the spot where two were missing. She had dreamed about Mason again, and Lissa. Adrian had not invaded her dreams again tonight and she was glad, because he might know where she was.

He thought she was a Strigoi. She knew it and didn't care so long as he didn't tell anyone else. Abe was the only one that knew most of the truth. Rose had discovered him about a year ago, after she had graduated from her new Academy with highest honors and joined a Strigoi hunting team.

It was a new idea the Guardian Council was tossing around, and they were the guinea pigs. They did not tell the queen and it was a total secret until they decided it worked and people would be saved.

Anyway, Abe was her father. She hated to admit it, but he was. The team had saved him one night, when his own guardians had been taken down by a Strigoi. She had heard the fight and motioned quietly for the others to follow her.

She was the one that killed the Strigoi; therefore, she had the mark to prove it. Today Rose was going to see him. They had coffee a couple times a week at a small café down the road. Sometimes he would come with gifts for his daughter, and she would proceed to ask him where he had stolen them from.

He would just laugh and give them to her anyway. The first time she realized that he was her father was when he asked about her mother.

Abe… Ibrahim. Wow… I'm an idiot.

"You know my mom?" she asked wearily and waited for his answer.

He grinned. "Yes, from somewhere I can't seem to recall. She probably saved my life sometime. Maybe I should contact her and ask her if she knows where her daughter has been for a year and a half."

"Do it. I'm nineteen; she can't force me to go back."

Abe shook his head. "I won't, though she asks if I've seen you every month. I tell her no, just so I can spend time with you."

Rose crossed the floor of her apartment, grabbed her keys, and headed out the door. She didn't have a car because she just walked everywhere, but sometimes one of the Council's vehicles would come pick her and her colleagues up.

Today, a shiny black SUV was waiting for her at the doorstep. Rose glared at it and hopped in, hoping Abe would know what happened.

Krissy, one of her other teammates, was already in the car, sitting in the passenger's seat. She was playing with the radio, their stoic driver trying hard not to glare. Rose grinned at the petite blonde and sat back in her seat.

"Hey, Hathaway," called Peter from the far back, where he always seemed to be. He leaned forward and caught my eye. "Haven't seen you in a while. We were afraid something had gotten you." He made fake fangs out of his fingers, wriggles his eyebrows, and slowly moved back into his seat.

"Seatbelts," reminded the man driving, putting on dark sunglasses even though there was no sun in the weather they were having.

Rose unbuckled her belt and leaned so she was next to him and whispered in his ear, "_Mne by khotelos uznat o tebe pobolshe_," in her most seductive tone.

Krissy snorted and finally picked a station with recent Russian hits.

"_davay pazshenimsya_," her Russian was terrible, but she could understand almost everything that was said and say other things. Peter, Krissy, Albert, and Tor had been teaching her and loved to hear her say the weirdest stuff to random people.

"_s razhdеstvom_,"

He glared and stopped at Albert and Tor's apartment, mumbled, "Stupid Americans,"

When they all finally arrived at Council headquarters, Rose was the first out and the first to enter. A woman was standing there, holding a clipboard.

"Welcome, Guardian Hathaway."

"Hey, what's up?"

She gave her a puzzled expression, but greeted the others. They were quickly rushed to the meeting room, where an older man stood, obviously dhampir. She placed the clipboard down and left.

"I want you to all pick a name on that list." Said the man, Guardian Green, also American. Rose felt a certain bond with him because he was also in a foreign country, even if he could speak the language better than she.

Rose snatched it up first and scanned the list very carefully, everyone peering over her shoulder.

_Vasilisa Dragomir. _"I want Princess Vasilisa," Rose stated and handed it back, noting other names that she recognized. Krissy asked who she should pick, since she didn't know any of the people. "Pick Adrian or Christian."

"I'll take Adrian," Peter piped in, so Krissy was left with Christian. Rose grinned at the thought of Krissy being stuck with him. With her recent checks of Lissa, she knew that the couple was still going strong.

Tor and Alpert picked off the list.

"You have each been assigned you charge for the next couple of months. I will tell you that you are not coming back her for a while. There was an attack the Court in Montana. Dozens of Strigoi banned together in the attack, and many were taken or harmed. You have each gotten first pick of the Moroi currently at the Court to protect until we are sure that it is still safe for them there.

"The jet will be departing in ten minutes and you are all to be in it or we will leave you."

"What?" Rose cried, "What about our things? Are we supposed to wear these clothes the whole time?"

"Your belongings have just arrived. I sent a couple teams out to collect them while you were brought here."

Someone raided my apartment, Rose realized and frowned, but decided not to argue anymore because time was ticking. They all rushed to the plane. There were several other guardians there, who had not picked yet.

Rose realized what this meant. She was going back. After two years, she was going to go back to them. To Lissa. She had no idea about Dimitri and shut her eyes and tried not to think about it.

She wondered what they would say. Would they be happy she was back or dismiss her because she had left them?

She wasn't running anymore. Rose had changed in the two years. She knew that this had been coming and welcomed it, because she didn't have to hide anymore.

**Mne by khotelos uznat o tebe pobolshe : I would like to know more about you. **

**davay pazshenimsya : Let's get married. **

**s razhdеstvom : Merry Christmas. **


	3. Chapter 2

**I've decided to finish the story in first person because it's what I'm used to writing in. **

Chapter 2:

Halfway through the plane ride, I checked in on Lissa.

She and Christian were sitting with Eddie, Dimitri, and Adrian in a small coffee shop at Court. They were mostly quiet, staring out the windows. Guardians were arriving in droves, with their Moroi, or alone. Planes were landing on the runway, rain pouring down in sheets.

It took me a while to realize that they were looking for me. Lissa was cold, even in a sweater and jeans. She couldn't get the attack out of her mind. She couldn't get the death of her guardian, Estov, out of her mind. Her other guardian, Maria, was still alive, but she had been reassigned. Lissa didn't know why.

They were no me, but she had trusted them and cared about them. Dimitri had been assigned to Mia, but hadn't been present in the attack. She was one of the ones that had been kidnapped.

I didn't know why, but a cold shock went through me. Mia had saved my life once.

"What if she doesn't come?" Lissa whispered low. Christian rubbed her back affectionately and tried to soothe her worry. Her hand was clenched around a plastic cup of coffee, her pale skin paler than usual. I realized she was talking about me—not Mia.

Immediately, I felt the need to protect her and comfort her. It still hadn't lessened, even after two years and thousands of miles. Neither had my love for Dimitri. He was silent, leaning back in his chair in that easy way of his. Yet I knew he could jump up and be ready for action in less than a second. His hair was longer and his face unshaven, which made him seem older.

The years separating us seemed like nothing. I missed him everyday. It was a part of me, a physical pain. I loved him like I loved Lissa like a sister.

Suddenly, I couldn't wait to be back in their arms. I even wanted to see Adrian. In person.

"Then we keep looking." Dimitri mumbled and I was startled to see that there was sadness and pain in his eyes. I always wondered if he had taken Tasha's offer. I figured he hadn't since she was never with him when I checked in.

Christian asked, "Have you been reassigned?"

"Mia isn't dead, Christian." Lissa said, startled by his harsh words. Everyone was silent for a while, still watching the jets. "I heard there were some Russian guardians coming to Court. Is that true?"

"Yes. From St. Petersburg."

Adrian looked up from his mocha, startled by Dimitri's answer. Lissa noticed. "What is it?" Adrian ran a hand through his artfully disheveled hair, trying to process what he had just said.

I waited for his answer, trying to keep a hold on Lissa for a little bit longer.

"I…" He blinked, as if trying to get the thought out of his head. I begged for him to forget, to lose his train of thought, but he wasn't high or drunk enough. "When I talk to Rose—"

"WHAT?" Lissa screamed, several people around her glanced sharply at the Dragomir princess in surprise. Dimitri was just as surprised, which literally warmed me to the heart. "You… you… Rose… but…"

"Well, she always dreams up this church. This is really weird, because from what I can tell, Rose isn't very religious. Sometimes we're outside, and there is this huge gold-colored dome and this—cupola?—I think that's what it's called. There are granite columns in the front and these gorgeous gardens of these really pretty purple flowers and big green bushes. Rose once told me that the cathedral was called—St. Isaac's."

"It's in St. Petersburg." Dimitri answered quickly, blinking. "But a Strigoi can't enter holy ground."

Adrian considered the facts. "But she's never shown me the inside—just the gardens. And she never sits on the steps. She never even touches the cathedral. She only looks at it."

Lissa leaned back, like all of her energy had drained, deflated. "So there might still be a chance that she is a Strigoi, even if you can enter her dreams. Does she look like a Strigoi?"

"I dunno. Not really."

He obviously didn't know what a Strigoi looked like even when he had survived the attack, so Eddie went to explain. "Reddish eyes, pale skin, fangs, and this whole sense of evil coming off of them."

"Nope. She was still pretty tan. And that amazingly long, dark hair is so much longer than before—God, she looks so hot—"

"Adrian!" Lissa says, kicking his foot under the table. Dimitri was glaring at him harder than before, which also excited me.

"Oh—and she's never at the cathedral on Wednesdays. She's always at this apartment with tall glass windows overlooking a busy street. We walk down steps, and sometimes she yells at me. The place is really nice and surprisingly modern. When we leave the building, there's a black car waiting. She's usually able to pull out of the dream by then." He acted like nothing was wrong, looking as happy as can be. Like a super hot, super huge vampire killer named Dimitri _wasn't _staring him down.

"Why didn't you ever tell us?" Lissa asked, feeling hurt.

Adrian finally focused on his cousin, his face falling. He actually looked a little bit ashamed. "She wouldn't have come back, Lissa. You _know _that. The only way we would ever be graced with her presence again is if she decided it." Adrian sighed heavily and took a sip of coffee. "Either that, or she's a Strigoi."

"Hey—watch it, Ivashkov." Christian warned, practically growling. His arm tightened around Lissa protectively and stroked her hair warmly. They were silent for a while until he spoke again, "Well, what are our options if she _is _a Strigoi?"

"That's none of your concern. I've allowed you to do some research on her and we've come up with nothing. Now that I know where she is—I'll have to hunt her down and… and kill her." Dimitri stated somewhat painfully. I was the only one able to read his fast facial emotions and secret passion.

"Allowed us? _Allowed_? We did it because we wanted to—because we _care _about her. She's my best friend, Dimitri, so don't even think that I'm letting you tell me what I can and can't do about finding her."

This was one of those times I felt awful about leaving. This was one of those times I regretting giving up friends and people who cared about me for my own selfish needs. But I knew now what would have happened if I had stayed. Not long after I had been in Russia, I met a man and woman.

They were a shadow-kissed man and a spirit-user Moroi woman and had explained to me about what that meant. I told them about becoming unstable and Mason. They told me why I could see him, not only in my dreams, but sometimes when I was in the café with Abe.

Across the street. Watching me. His pale, washed out face crying out to me, accusing me. _Why did you leave me? Why didn't you love me back? _

I jerked back to my own body, not able to get Dimitri's reply. I was glad Lissa was sticking up for herself, but I didn't want her going to St. Petersburg. There was way too much there, things she wouldn't understand. Things I wanted to tell her, but was forbidden to.

Krissy was watching a man on a screen like I was supposed to be doing. He was explaining what had happened and pictures flashed, showing Moroi and Strigoi. In a couple of pictures, I spotted guardians I recognized from St. Vlad's and tried not to look so surprised at them. Krissy, Peter, Alpert, and Tor thought had had done excessive research on all of the royals for a project at my old academy. They though I'd run away from an academy in Ireland and hadn't looked into it. I was glad, because I didn't want anyone knowing too much.

The attack was awful. Someone, probably Christian, had started fires and the flames blazed like a beacon to the dark sky. The pale skin of the evil vampires glowed in the eerie light, the red eyes as red as the blood coating their hands, face, hair, clothes. Dozens of them, everywhere, like menacing parasites.

My hand clenched tight when I saw the destruction of the gorgeous Court and my eyes grew wide at the photos of Dimitri. Even in still motion, he resembled Death in a cowboy duster, his stake glittering brightly. I wondered how they had gotten the filmy pictures. Either they had taken them off the security cameras or some idiot Moroi had decided to walk out in a bloody battle to get some cool photos.

Krissy whispered, "I hope _he _survived. Kak vas zavut, _baby_?"

I couldn't help laughing a little bit, even in the seriousness of the situation. A couple of Moroi came down the aisles, handing out assignments and further information. Since we had been able to pick our charges, another man came to give us ours. No one seemed to notice the special attention we got, but I wished Green would be a bit more low-key.

Krissy went over her file on Christian Ozera, and squealed with delight when she realized that he was Vasilisa Dragomir's boyfriend; therefore, we would be seeing each other a lot.

I hoped that wouldn't complicate things. I loved Krissy to death, but I didn't want her knowing more than she needed to know. I didn't really think there would be any way to hide my past anymore.

I didn't even bother to go over my file because I knew all of it already. Instead, I decided to sleep for the duration of the flight, leaving Krissy to talk to Peter across the aisle about Adrian Ivashkov.

By the time we reached the Court, I was already experiencing jetlag, even though I had slept most of the time. I checked in on Lissa a couple times, anxiety racking me every five seconds. I needed to get there, _soon_, because my worry was going to kill me any minute now.

I didn't know where any of my belongings were, so I filed out with the rest of the dhampir. We lined up out on the runway, sleeting rain pouring from the dark sky. We were ushered into one of the adjoining buildings, hair and clothing damp.

Temporary rooms were given until the night, when some banquet was supposed to be held. No one would meet before then and it kind of annoyed me that Queen Tatiana would turn such a horrible massacre into a fun party.

I took a hot shower in the room I shared with Krissy and two other female guardians. I stood in the water for a while, trying to wash away my exhaustion. It didn't work, so I curled up in a bed silently so I wouldn't wake any of the other women.

Falling fast asleep, I was invaded.

"Funny. You've never shown me _this _place before." Adrian said. I turned and realized that we were in one of his stupid dream worlds. Or, beach, that is. A sparkling blue ocean stretched out and blindingly white sand stretched out on the other side. I stood, my bare feet buried in the sand, wearing a maroon bikini, my chokti on a wrist, and stared at him.

"What do you want, Adrian?" I asked, trying to sound bored and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Just wondering how you are. What you're doing. _Where _you are."

I laughed loudly, trying to darken my laugh as much as I could. I noticed his accusing voice, the questioning glance. "Oh, Adrian, don't you know where I am?"

"I think St. Petersburg, but I'm not sure."

"Maybe you should come find out." I grinned, tossing my hair off my shoulders. My act didn't seem to be working, though, and he only stared. I tried not to feel nervous, but his gaze had me unhinged. "What, Adrian?"

"I don't think you're a Strigoi."

"Why not?"

"I think you want me to think you're a Strigoi. I think you want me to tell everyone else you're a Strigoi. But I don't disappoint, little dhampir. In fact—"

His next words were interrupted when a sudden feeling erupted inside me. The bond pulled me back to the land of the conscious. I sat up, gasping; feeling like everything was crashing into me. Like a wave on that ocean. Fear pounded inside of me, as well as anger. It swelled like a black cloud in a stormy sky, filling me, filling me so much I couldn't breathe.

No. No. It's not me. I'm not her. I'm Rose. Rose Hathaway. I'm me. I'm not—

_Lissa. _

**kak vas zavut = What is your name? **


End file.
